Prepology at http://www.prepology.blogspot.com is giving away a Cobra 25 NW ST ( Night watch with Sound tracker ). I used to have one of these and it was great. It was easy to use and worked well which works for me because I'm not technically inclined. Unfortunately in my earlier days I sold it as being unnecessary. This is a very good entry level model for someone to learn on, dials and switches are kept to a minimum. I hope to win this one.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
NATO Ranger Fire Lighting Flint
This is another reminder that Advancedsurvivalguide.com is having a contest. They are giving away the NATO Ranger Fire Lighting
Friday, October 8, 2010
Travelling too far from home.
I apologize for not writing consistently. My grandchild was born quite sick last weekend and I flew to
What if everything crashed while I am here? If I needed to GOOD where would I go? I know
How did I pack for this trip and what I could have done differently? I've been here for almost a week and there are things that I did right and things that I definitely did wrong. I'm still in the learning mode and always think nothing will happen this time. Everything seems stable enough. But didn't we feel that way on Sept 10, 2001?
What's in my backpack? This isn't my bag that I have in my personal vehicle or my work truck. It's not what I have set aside at home or in the trailer. I packed this one specifically for hanging out in the hospital and maybe going to religious service a time or two.
Clothes. I blew it here. Why? I packed three pairs of shorts. Stupid. I wear one to bed, intended one for working out and one for just because. The "just because" pair was a waste of space. I brought four t-shirts. Two are for blending in and two are fire department shirts. I wore a pair of jeans and brought one pair of work pants. I figured if there was some disaster, it's nice to look official. You can go past all kinds of blockades this way. I wore my boots and brought a pair of tennis shoes. I didn't pack anything warm. I blew this! Just because it was 100 the day I left doesn't mean that for the next week or two, or month or two if things go wrong would not having something warm be acceptable.
I brought a blanket that is able to be rolled up and placed inside the backpack. I packed rope disguised as a zipper pull. I brought gauze and a rollable splint (I didn't know how that was going to go over in my carryon). I had medications (keep them labeled, even if you pack pills in baggies). I packed money. I packed a map book. I packed my empty water bottle that has the filter built in (fill with bad water, drink the good water). Also packed is a flashlight with spare batteries, a small flattened roll of toilet paper, a small sewing kit, sunscreen, a bandana, and a spare pair of glasses.
I brought lots of cash. I have a secret compartment in the backpack and some of it is there. Some is in my pocket. Some is in my purse. Some is in a secret pocket in my pants leg. Each location has enough to get me back so I brought four times as much as I think I should need.
The place where I'm staying had about three days worth of food and water. Certainly not enough. I have use of a car so one of the first things I did after going to the hospital was to hit the grocery store. They now have a two week supply of food that doesn't need cooking (since they have an electric range and no bbq or camp stove). I've also taken over the cooking using these storable foods and explained how easy it is to cook this way. Yes, I've included fresh food because it's available, but they'd be able to eat well without the fresh food. I'm going back to the grocery store today and will get another two weeks of food. They will then have at least a three week supply.
While at the store I picked up a knife with screwdrivers. It's not big, nor was it expensive, since it won't be coming on the plane back with me. It is practical. I also picked up several books of matches and a box of matches. I bought a box of "sabbath candles" in the kosher food isle. There are 12 candles in the box for $1.79 and each candle burns for around 4 hours.
If I have to walk home or partially home I wouldn't carry the computer but I would pull the hard drive from the computer and leave the laptop anywhere.
What did I forget? A jacket. Paper. I usually carry a small rite-in-the-rain notebook. I forgot it. Aluminum foil. A space blanket. Something to read. I feel naked without a gun and the home I'm in doesn't have any.
Both daughter and son-in-law are ex-military so maybe with enough training they can become part of my group. Their intent is to move to
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
AdvancedSurvivalGuide.com giveaway
Advancedsurvivalguide.com is having a contest. They are giving away the NATO Ranger Fire Lighting
Monday, October 4, 2010
Medical treatment
As we prepare for future uncertainty by stocking up and learning about as many topics as possible we need to prepare ourselves for death of loved ones as well. I pray that we never get into a situation where the medical system that we have collapses. My granddaughter was just born and has medical problems. None of our medical training would be enough to keep her alive. The specialized equipment needed to save her is not something that we would ever have on hand. Even if we had a physican in our group her life wouldn't be spared. Glad we are living in "good" times now. She still may not make it but she does have a chance.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Shampoo
How much money do you spend on shampoo? One dollar a bottle? Five? Ten? More? We have tried all kinds of products and while the ten dollar bottles work and feel great, now that there's more than one person in this household ten dollar bottles of shampoo and conditioner are faded memories. The issue though isn't how much it costs, rather it's how much you use.
I can buy a 32 ounce bottle of Suave shampoo for two dollars, less if I can find a good sale. If I use one teaspoon of shampoo per day, six days per week, I'll use one ounce. Yes, a 32 ounce bottle can last one person for over 6 months. I don't dilute it. I use a pump on the bottle that only pumps out a teaspoon at a time. I've taught the kids that one pump, less for the boys, is all that's needed. Two bottles will last one person for a year. That's four or five dollars per year! Stock up on this. It's cheap and easy to store. Just don't use too much because you have a lot on hand. You could make your own shampoo by storing and mixing a bunch of ingredients. But why when it's cheap and easy to store it already made? If there are society problems do you really want to be spending time making a shampoo concoction? I don't.
Conditioner is something we use more of. We will go through three bottles of conditioner for every two bottles of shampoo. We don't use the conditioner straight out of the bottle. We take a couple of ounces and put it into a quart spray bottle. We fill the rest of the bottle with water. You can use this on wet or dry hair. I could store up ingredients to make my own but again, this is cheap to buy and easy to store.
Let's not make it complicated
Preparing for uncertain times doesn't have to be complicated. If you take a common sense approach you will realize that most of what you need to do you are already doing in some fashion or another.
I've already listed breakfast meals for planning ahead. Try the same with dinner. Think back about 50-75 years or so. What did people who lived in the country do? I know my parents and grandparents lived in the city. My grandmother shopped every day to get fresh produce and meats. My mother shopped once a week. On the other hand, my great grandmother couldn't afford to shop. They lived on 1/3 acre in a log house, raised six children (my grandpa slept on the kitchen table), and they had 100 chickens! They raised them for food and to sell eggs. They didn't buy feed from the feed store and they didn't have enough land to grow food for the chickens. They collected food waste and plant waste to feed to the chickens. They had a garden, fruit trees, chickens, and their house. You can actually get a lot onto 1/3 acre if you don't have a large lawn, play yard, or pool.
You don't have to make gourmet meals every night. You probably don't now, especially if you have kids because we all know they'd rather eat mac and cheese than a leg of lamb any day. I don't remember every meal but I do remember that one night was meat loaf, a second night of ground beef was sloppy joes or hamburgers or even a hamburger helper type dinner, one night was chicken, one night was fish, one night was a vegetable main dish, two nights were pasta. Around our house we have pretty set meals. We do vary them, it's not Monday meatloaf, Tuesday spaghetti, week in and week out, but I could write a list of 10-14 dinners and plan around that for a storage program. For the next couple of weeks you should list everything you eat for dinner. Then go over the list and see how you would need to change it if you could only use stored foods or food you grew yourself. Work on it. I'll get back to this topic.
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